The tension in her body set off all my alarms, so I quietly slid out of the chair and crawled toward her.There was a small frosted window beside the door, and a large shape stalked past it.The movement was all wrong, slow, and jolting, and the shadow was way too big to be human.My mouth went dry and I strained to hear past my rising pulse.
The shadow paused at the edge of the window, and I swore I saw two bony limbs rising above the thing's back.Whatever the fuck that was, it wasn't supposed to be on Earth.Every Predator movie I’d ever seen came rushing back to me and I stared at the blank metal door that stood between us and the thing outside.
Neither of us moved, we crouched beside each other, frozen for what felt like an hour, until my knees were burning and my calves were cramping.Finally, the shadow lurched away, and I let out a lungful of air.
"What.The.Fuck.Was.That?"I hissed.
"I don't know," Penny sounded sick."We have to find her, Taz.I should have never let her go out alone."
"Hey," I turned on her, hating the miserable tone of her voice."Hope's a big girl, you're not her mom, and you aren't responsible for whatever happened.We'll find her, but you've got to stop beating yourself up."
Penny glared at me.
"I'm scared for her.Maybe you don't get what that feels like, since you don't care about anyone but yourself," she growled.
I jerked my head back like she'd slapped me.Penny never lashed out, she was the calm one, the responsible one.I was the one that flew off the handle and wrecked friendships.We'd been friends for years, she was the one person I let myself get attached to after years of getting abandoned by my mom and dozens of foster homes.
"That's not fair," I said, wishing her words hadn't cut me so deep.I knew I pushed people away, but damn, I cared about Hope, and I definitely cared about Penny.I figured she'd know that after all these years.
Her face crumpled and she rubbed her hands over her face with a groan.
"I'm sorry, Taz.I didn't mean-"
"No," I stood up."I get it, I'm a bitch.Sorry you got stuck with me."
I strode to the door and jerked it open, half expecting an alien monster to be on the other side.I was half right.As soon as I opened the door, a spaceship crashed through the wall and the ceiling caved in on us.
2 Dargo
“You’re swerving allover the place, you malformedirrum!”The syto captain screamed as the scout ship wobbled over the human town.
I braced my hooves on the smooth metal floor as the ship swooped again.
“All the autopilot functions are down!”the pilot yelled back, wrestling with the controls.“I’m not trained in navigation protocols.”
I gritted my teeth when the belly of the ship scraped over a building and the hold was filled with the screech of tearing metal.I was no pilot, but even I could tell that, without the syto cruiser controlling their scout, my captors were worse than useless.
